Melanie McFarland has her finger on the pulse of the television remote. The networks, the premium channels, the great shows you love and the asinine shows the rest of America watches … she knows what's on. If you have a question, e-mail her at tvgal@seattlepi.com.

Gillian Anderson knows exactly what American audiences must think. “Perhaps there’s a slight perception that I was a temporary television celebrity who disappeared off the face of the planet,” she said.

Anderson in “Bleak House”

In fact, Anderson lives in London, where she has completed several films due out this year, including “Tristram Shandy” and “The Last King of Scotland.” That she’s popping up in Andrew Davies’ eight-hour version of “Bleak House” is something of an anomaly.

“Bleak House,” by the way, airs on “Masterpiece Theatre” on consecutive Sundays through February 26, beginning with a two-hour opener Sunday, Jan. 22, at 9 p.m.

I repeat, this may be the last time you’ll see Anderson in a TV series. That’s by choice, not force. “I’m not around to knock on people’s doors and beg them to hire me, or to meet directors who are in town or anything like that,” she told critics. “It’s all sprung from British filmmakers who are willing to take a risk, and for whatever reason see me as an actor, and not a television celebrity.

“And God bless them, because that’s where I’ve been getting my work.”

Davies, meanwhile, also would love to get a little more attention than he does. “I have no private life,” he said. “… I don’t really have any friends either. In fact, if anyone likes the look of me, will they please come up and… ” We all laughed.

“I’m getting quite old now,” he continued. “And, you know, if I go up to young people in the street and say, ‘Would you like to have a good time with me?’ they report me to the police. But if I write these scripts, it gets me into a situation where I meet all these beautiful and talented people.”